International Brotherhood

Despite the Glorious Successor's pro-market policy of throwing public money at venture capitalists, thus single-mouthedly saving the country from the worst recession since the 1930s until the City's next brainstorm, it seems the credit has not yet stopped crunching. The chair of the glamorously-titled Olympic Delivery Authority is complaining of difficulty in inducing private sector funders to invest in chunks of white elephant. This is not to say that money is not available, "but, if it is available, it is available on harsh terms". Does this mean we won't get our five temporary swimming pools? Surely the God of Tony could never be so cruel. "Discussions and negotiations are going on with banks and we will reach a conclusion," said the chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority. "In reaching that conclusion there will be an element of contingency funding required"; well, the people who matter most don't really need that many affordable homes, and after this week's minor economic miracle I'm sure Gordon can find a bit more taxpayers' money that's just lying around doing nothing. Fortunately, there is no risk of the project going over budget, as the Government has had the foresight not to bother calculating what the whole miserable business is going to cost in any case.